Free Republic

CHRIS WALLACE: Why single out Crossroads when you didn't mention a single liberal group, and there were a bunch that were applying for tax-exempt status at exactly that point with the name "progress" in their name. SEN. DICK DURBIN: I can just tell you flat-out why I did it. Because that Crossroads organization was boasting about how much money they were raising as a 501(c)(4). Let's get back to the basics. Citizens United really unleashed hundreds if not thousands of organizations seeking tax-exempt status to play in political campaigns. The law we wrote as Congress said that they had to...

Amnesty, and particularly citizenship, for people who broke the law to get here is bad policy because it rewards law breakers and advantages them over law abiders. It’s also very costly, as a study released by the Heritage Foundation demonstrates, The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer: Executive Summary Unlawful immigration and amnesty for current unlawful immigrants can pose large fiscal costs for U.S. taxpayers. Government provides four types of benefits and services that are relevant to this issue: Direct benefits. These include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation. Means-tested welfare benefits. There...

Dick Durbin Defends Commies and Socialists at May Day Rally (Video) Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, May 2, 2013, 11:07 AM Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke at the Chicago May Day rally yesterday in Chicago. After his speech Durbin defended the communists and socialists at the leftist event. Rebel Pundit interviewed him: Rebelpundit: There is a large contingent of Communist Party USA, anarchists, international socialist groups here today that you just spoke to… Durbin: How do you know that? Rebelpundit: Because I’ve filmed them all day, and you just spoke to them, so I’d like to ask about your...

Here they come: Migrants bound for the U.S. border ride on top of a train in Ixtepec, in Oaxaca, southern Mexico (AP).- For months, Stand With Arizona has been reporting (most recently here, here and here) on the massive increase in border crossings since Obama and the 'Gang of Eight' started promising amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. And I have been interviewed by two dozen media outlets from the Washington Post and L.A. Times to CNN and even FoxNews. Each time I begged them to report the truth about what border agents were telling me - that a tidal...

CHICAGO - At Wednesday's annual May Day rally in downtown Chicago, Rebel Pundit was on hand to ask U.S. Senator Dick Durbin why he had no problem identifying with the radical factions that participated in the parade for amnesty, Marxism and anarchy. Durbin was aware he was talking to a "rightwing" news source after he asked his staffer "Breitbart?":

WASHINGTON -- Democratic and Republican senators joined a former deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday in urging the Obama administration to make public more information about its top-secret targeted killing program amid questions about the legality and effectiveness of hundreds of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere. "More transparency is needed to maintain the support of the American people and the international community" for drone strikes, said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a key Obama ally and the chairman of the Constitution subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The White House refused to send a witness...

The Internet Sales Tax (aka, The Main Street Fairness Act) is a blatant attempt to punish innovation in the name of fairness. Amazon.com and other internet retailers have changed the face of retail marketing by allowing products to be delivered to you home rather than have you travel to the product (such as a shopping mall and big box retailers like Best Buy). Retailers such as Best Buy (BBY), Sears (SHLD), Office Depot (ODP), Barnes & Noble (BKS), RadioShack (RSH) and even Gamestop (GME) have seen declines in sales and are trying to re-think their retail strategies in 2013. To...

Durbin: Immigration bill ‘will make us safer’ after Boston attack By Ben Goad - 04/21/13 12:15 PM ET Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) proclaimed Sunday that newly unveiled legislationto overhaul the nation’s immigration system would strengthen national security in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon attack. Appearing on Meet the Press, Durbin (D-Ill.) said last week’s Boston bombings revealed a need for bolstered federal resources to prevent future attacks. But he said the contentious 844-page immigration bill would make strides toward greater national security. “Immigration reform will make us safer, and I hope that those that are critical...

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) told host Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that supporters of new gun control legislation do not yet have the votes to pass it, despite defeating a Republican-led filibuster attempt last week. Durbin is the Senate Majority Whip, responsible for counting his party's votes on key legislative proposals. The specific bill facing the Senate is the Manchin-Toomey compromise on background checks, which would expand such requirements to gun shows, among other provisions. Currently, private sales between individuals at gun shows do not require background checks--just as private sales anywhere do not require them. The following is...

Come on in...it's all free, courtesy of the American taxpayer!- by John HillStand With ArizonaJoe Wilson is right....again.Remember Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and his outburst at Obama's 2010 State of the Union address? Here's a refresher: Obama said his healthcare plan would not cover illegal aliens - twice. Wilson shouted "You lie!" to the outrage of many, and for which he was later censured by Pelosi & Co. Democrats said it was ridiculous to suggest that illegal aliens would EVER be able to receive Obama Care benefits. Wilson was right, of course, as SWA pointed out and way back in...

Well, now we know why the “the popular spring vacation season”  Easter Egg Spring Sphere Roll was snatched out of the jaws of the Sequester Jester: we needed yet another photo op to highlight the tragedy of people getting “some automatic weapons they didn't need." Hadiya’s parents with Lady M at the SOTU address So Lady M is honoring Chicago gun violence victim, Hadiya Pendleton, by inviting her parents to the annual photo op eggroll on the South Lawn, and Senator Dick Durbin is honoring her by writing a new gun bill: (snip)The Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of...

Key senators are exploring an immigration bill that would force every U.S. worker—citizen or not—to carry a high-tech identity card that could use fingerprints or other personal markers to prove a person's legal eligibility to work. snip But at least five of the eight senators writing the bill have backed biometric ID cards in the past. At least three of them—Sens. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.)—have said they support requiring the cards under the new law but are open to other options, aides say. snip Mr. Graham, in an interview, said that...

Well, well, well, so Obama has embarked on his third war in little more than two years. You've got to admit that "flexibility" is his middle name. Or at least one of his middle names: Barack Barry Hussein "Flexibility" Soetoro Obama, Jr. Those are the names we know so far, but The Donald thinks there might be more. Whodda thunk? Here we are barely into the first week of what started out as a "No-Fly Zone" and it is now turning out to be Air Al Qaida. Ten years ago, AQ had a mere four civilian airplanes to crash into...

U.S. states could collect millions of dollars in online sales taxes, with members of both parties in Congress sponsoring legislation Thursday that would resolve states' decades-long struggle to tax businesses beyond their borders. "Small businesses and states alike are suffering from the inability to collect due — not new — taxes from purchases made online," said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., adding the legislation is a "bipartisan, bicameral, common-sense solution that promotes states' rights and levels the playing field for our Main Street businesses." Legislation on the Amazon tax, named for the colossal Internet retailer, has languished for years. ..... <...

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said on Sunday embattled Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) should keep his chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee despite an investigation into his dealings with a top donor. "Sen. Menendez has given us an assurance that there is no substance to these charges," the Democratic senator from Illinois said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "It's being looked at by the Ethics Committee. Of course, I can't comment beyond that." The Senate Ethics Committee is looking into Menendez's interaction with Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye surgeon who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Menendez and...

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) admitted to David Gregory on Meet the Press today that the Obama sequestration plan was just a political game and was never intended to move forward. “David, sequestration was designed as a budget threat, not as a budget strategy. And, I think all of us understand that if it goes forward in less than three weeks it’s going to have a dramatic negative impact on several agencies.”

Illinois Senator Richard Durbin’s exchange Wednesday with National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre defined the disconnect anti-gun Democrats have with the reality of so-called “universal background checks” and why they won’t stop criminals from obtaining firearms. As quoted in the Seattle Times, and shown in this video, Durbin became engaged in a frustrating debate with LaPierre. The NRA executive told the Senate Judiciary Committee that “My problem with background checks is that you’re never going to get criminals to go through universal background checks.” “You’ll create an enormous federal bureaucracy, unfunded, hitting all the little people in the...

Dick Durbin told the NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre that background checks WILL deter criminlas from buying guns (apparently at places where background checks are conducted). And so it is good to know that Democrats are going to have background checks set up in "back alleys." /s Dems will also set up "Gun Free Zone" signs all across America in back alleys and the like, so that when criminals see these signs it will deter them from selling hot guns/stolen guns in those "back alleys." /s BTW, why is Sen. Feinstein using a Straw Man argument when she brings up malls...

According to CNN, Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly and the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre will testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on America’s gun violence crisis. You can watch it below. It begins at 10:00 AM ET.

January 27, 2013 Durbin: Benghazi hearings one of Clinton’s ‘finer moments’ Ben Wolfgang A top Senate Democrat believes Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s duel appearances last week on Capitol Hill, in which she clashed with Republicans over the Obama administration’s handling of the Sept. 11 Benghazi terrorist attacks, will go down in history as one of the secretary of state’s “finer moments.” “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has done an extraordinary job for this country. It’ll be recognized by history. This was one of her finer moments,” Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign...